Royals Who Actually Do Something

The royal family of Fantasyland has a lot of issues, one of which is an impressively vague job description. Judging by their role in most plots, their main duties include getting ousted from power at inopportune times, hiding in peasant villages, and plotting rebellions to reclaim their throne. Occasionally their female members have tantrums about arranged marriage and having to wear dresses, and everyone gets to plot against their siblings on the regular.

This trope kicks in when the author puts aside the idea that Fantasyland royalty are the idle rich, and gives them a work ethnic and a conscience. Understandably, this is usually applied to the good guys to make them more appealing to the reader; however, there's no rule that says the Evil Usurper can't roll up their sleeves and put in some serious effort.

The trope comes in two possible flavours. First, there's the character who could get away with doing nothing, but chooses to follow a career path of some kind, or at least develop some useful life skills. The second-- which is surprisingly less common-- is about the work which comes with the position. Running a country is a full time job and then some, whether you're the Queen, the President, or the Grand Dictator for Life.

Personally, I feel that Fantasyland needs a lot more of the second one. The following questions should help get you started.

What specific duties are expected of the leader? On a daily basis? For special occasions?How much of a role in governmental logistics does the leader have?What other people or institutions contribute to running the government?What happens to people who don't fulfill their leadership duties?
Once you've worked this out, you're in good shape to start thinking about what your Fantasyland leaders actually do with their day.